The present study tries to apply traces of psychoanalysis in the short story "The Oval Portrait" using specific technical terms of Freudian psychoanalytics including complexes, obsessions and disorders in human beings : Death Drive or Thanatos, Life Drive or Eros, Melancholy, Displacement, Dream Work, Fixation, Guilt, Sublimation and Traumatic Neurosis; all of which will be defined and discussed in due order
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He is best known for his tales of mystery and macabre. He is also one of the foremost pioneers of detective fiction and is generally considered part of the American Romantic Movement especially Dark Romanticism. A few of the recurrent themes and motifs in his writings are, death, horror, dream like atmospheres, murder. He published "The Oval Portrait" in 1842 which is also considered one of his shortest stories. While many critics suggest that Poe is a post-Gothic writer, he nevertheless used many Gothic conventions in his own work, including medieval settings, supernatural occurrences, terror, and architectural ruins. Certainly, ' 'The Fall of the House of Usher'' (1834) has all of the Gothic ingredients. Moreover, Poe is particularly important to the ongoing influence of the Gothic on contemporary literature, moving the genre from an external to an internal psychological focus. .
The main concern of this paper is to explore the reasons behind all these dark, coarse and dreadful imagery appeared in Poe's stories, in here "The Oval Portrait". Also to explore the inner psyche or the idea behind the creation of the characters in the story and relate them to Poe's own personality and background: The Narrator, The Painter and his Bride. For what particular reason or reasons, they behave the way they do. Why the Bride is so submissive and quaint and why the painter is so obsessed with his job of painting. In other words, the main focal point of the article is on the psychology of the characters in the story.
